Black Stone Cherry

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Not to be confused with the British band CherryBlackStone.
Black Stone Cherry
Origin Edmonton, Kentucky, United States
Genre(s) Hard rock
Southern rock
Post-grunge
Years active 2001–present
Label(s) Roadrunner Records
Website www.blackstonecherry.com
Members
Chris Robertson
Ben Wells
Jon Lawhon
John Fred Young

Black Stone Cherry is a southern rock band formed on June 4, 2001 in Edmonton, Kentucky, USA. They are signed to Roadrunner Records. The band consists of Chris Robertson, Ben Wells, Jon Lawhon, and John Fred Young.

Contents

[edit] History

The band Black Stone Cherry originates from Edmonton, Kentucky, which is in the middle of a dry county (where no alcoholic beverages are available for purchase). There was very little for the band members to do, which left them time to focus on their music. All four members have musical tradition in their family, due to the abundance of music around the area. John Fred's father and uncle are members of the Grammy Award winning band The Kentucky Headhunters and Jon's great uncle was a jazz drummer. Chris’s grandfather was a guitar maker and gave Chris his first guitar. Chris then learned his first chord from his father.

Surrounded by music and support in Edmonton, Black Stone Cherry was able to develop far away from the mainstream. John Fred once explained, "When you're from an area where you don't have the competition to be playing the same kind of music, you create your own style of music." Chris and John Fred started to play music together early in their teens and Jon and Ben soon followed. Black Stone Cherry officially formed on June 4, 2001. They then took over the practice house that had been used by the Kentucky Headhunters since 1968 and practiced relentlessly. Black Stone Cherry friend Aaron McCloud says "Their music is real, and I'm very inspired by their music and their personalities."

With expanding local popularity, Black Stone Cherry began to record tracks. After the band finished recording, they returned to Edmonton for a homecoming gig in the gym of the local middle school, which was attended by 1500 people. After the band’s self-titled debut album was released, Chris's former school principal invited the band back to Edmonton to celebrate with a concert. As the band entered the town, the streets were covered with signs welcoming them back.

In July 2007, they released a second EP containing the song "Rain Wizard" along with two previously unreleased tracks.

The first live album by Black Stone Cherry was released on October 31, 2007 immediately following the concert at the Astoria in London. Currently, the band has finished their 2007 tour and has stated that they're now working on a new album, due out in 2008. They will also Join Def Leppard and Whitesnake in the summer of 2008 for European dates.

On May 30, 2008 Black Stone Cherry announced their second album titled Folklore and Superstition. The release will be on August 19, 2008 with the first single off the album to be called "Blind Man".

[edit] Musical style

Black Stone Cherry's music is often associated with bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Black Crowes, and Led Zeppelin to a lesser extent. Their heavy, raw sound is often likened to Soundgarden and AC/DC, with guitar riffs similar to those produced by Guns N' Roses. While there are clear influences in Black Stone Cherry’s music, they have created their own style to a great extent.

The song writing of Black Stone Cherry is often praised for great storytelling. For example, the song "Lonely Train" is about the effect on families when a relative goes to fight in a war. The song "Rain Wizard" is about a local legend of mysterious wisemen who could bring the rain in times of drought. "Backwoods Gold" is about a local man who ran moonshine out of the hardware store in the middle of Edmonton.

The name was delivered by the famous kretrek cigarette Black Stone (Cherry Flavour)

[edit] Tour

Black Stone Cherry has toured in the United States extensively and has also supported Hinder in Europe before headlining their own European tour starting in Sheffield, England.

Other ventures included supporting the band Buckcherry. In 2006 when Buckcherry had to cancel a few shows, Black Stone Cherry opened and played a full set so that the crowd "could get its money's worth".

In 2008 the band will support Def Leppard and Whitesnake on all dates of the latter's extensive Great Britain and Northern Ireland tour

[edit] Promotion and publicity

Music from Black Stone Cherry has been featured in television and other media, and have also been available on iTunes.

In television, the track "Lonely Train" was the official theme song for WWE's The Great American Bash 2006. The track was later featured in the WWE video game WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007. Additionally, Heath Herring's Ultimate Fighting Championship debut was marked with playing of "Lonely Train" on January 25, 2007.

In movies, the track "Shooting Star" was used in a video showing the premiere footage of the movie The Condemned during Wrestlemania 23. "Backwoods Gold" was also used in another video talking about the movie.

"Lonely Train" was available on iTunes for free the week of July 17, 2006. For a brief period of time the band's catalog on the iTunes music store (which consisted of Black Stone Cherry, the Hell & High Water EP and the "Lonely Train" single) was taken down. On February 6, 2007, the album came up again, and on March 6, 2007 the Hell & High Water EP was also restored. The only part of the catalog yet to be put up as of June 4, 2007 is the Lonely Train single. All of Black Stone Cherry's material is now on the UK iTunes store, after the EPs were recently added.

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

  1. "Hell & High Water"
  2. "Big City Lights"
  3. "We Are the Kings"
  1. "Rain Wizard"
  2. "Drinkin' Champagne"
  3. "Stop Runnin'"

[edit] Singles

Year of release Title Album Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart peak
2006 Lonely Train Black Stone Cherry #14
2006 Hell & High Water Black Stone Cherry #30
2007 Rain Wizard Black Stone Cherry #29
2007 Big City Lights Hell & High Water EP -
2008 Blind Man Folklore and Superstition -

[edit] Band art

Some of Black Stone Cherry's most famous artwork, such as the cherry smoking a cigar is from a local tattoo artist, from West Main Street Tattoos in Glasgow, KY named Zach Burcham, who is listed in the art section under the thank you's of the self-titled album "Black Stone Cherry" as Zachry Burcham.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Black Stone Cherry
Chris Robertson · Ben Wells · Jon Lawhon · John Fred Young
Studio albums
Live albums
Demos and Extended plays
Videos
Singles